MILTON – The Town of Milton has voted to transfer 150 acres of land valued at approximately $50 million to Wilfrid Laurier University as part of its endorsement of Laurier’s plan to build a new university campus in this fast-growing community.

Milton Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to endorse the Laurier proposal and to transfer the land, subject to the university securing approval from the Ontario government to build a campus in Milton. The endorsement and land transfer represent a significant milestone in the ongoing Laurier-Milton partnership.

“This is a donation worth $50 million to Ontario’s post-secondary education system, not just to Wilfrid Laurier University,” said Laurier President and Vice-Chancellor Max Blouw. “We greatly appreciate the vision and commitment shown by Milton’s civic leaders, who clearly value the transformational power of higher education.”

Laurier has developed a detailed campus proposal to submit to the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities as part of the ministry’s Major Capacity Expansion Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFP is a key part of the government’s plan to modernize Ontario’s infrastructure and provide improved access to post-secondary education.

Milton is Canada’s fastest-growing community with a rising population of young families, a thriving economy, and a significant need for local access to post-secondary education to sustain its projected growth. Since 2008, Laurier has been working with the town to bring post-secondary education to the community.

The Laurier plan proposes a purpose-built, deep-green, leading-edge campus to initially support 2,500 students on 150 acres adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment. Over time, the campus has capacity for 15,000 or more students. The Laurier campus will be centred within a 400-acre Milton Education Village (MEV). Developed as a public destination, the MEV will be a fully integrated neighborhood of multi-level education, research and commercialization, and complementary residential and commercial development. A velodrome for the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am and Parapan American Games is under construction within the MEV and will be available as a shared sports and recreation facility to the future Laurier campus.

A multi-campus, multi-community university, Laurier has a highly successful track record of developing campus partnerships that benefit local communities and align with provincial educational and economic development priorities. Laurier’s Waterloo campus has been a driving force in the social, cultural and economic development of southwestern Ontario for more than a century. Laurier’s downtown Brantford campus has grown to more than 3,000 students since it opened in 1999. Considered a model of campus development, Laurier is widely credited with revitalizing Brantford’s downtown core and fueling economic prosperity in the area. A Laurier campus in Milton will address a key infrastructure gap in the western GTA, create more affordable access to post-secondary education for area families, and help diversify the fast-growing economy in Halton and the surrounding area.